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France's President Nicolas Sarkozy set the stage on Thursday for a re election campaign marked by a conservative social agenda, vowing to oppose gay marriage and euthanasia and restrict immigration.

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Responding to the left's call for non-European immigrants to be allowed to vote in local elections, Sarkozy said: "It's really not the time, with all the risks associated with the rise of multiculturalism."

"In the same vein, I say very clearly that, unlike Mr Hollande, I am not in favour of regularising the situation of undocumented foreigners, which would immediately create fresh demand," he added.

He said he would introduce new qualification criteria to make it harder for a foreign-born spouse to obtain French nationality by marrying a citizen, and transfer immigration hearings to administrative courts from civil ones.